It’s time to act on site safety

A building site, somewhere in the UK. People are crying, some are screaming, others are shouting. It’s chaos. The din and screech of heavy machinery adds to the confusion. Several people lie seriously injured, struck by a girder cut loose from its sling. How did this happen, you ask yourself.

Rewind to a week before, when the operatives first discuss hoisting the girder. You see fear and ignorance influencing their decisions, and you also see them bullied by the foreman who dismisses their safety concerns. Management is at fault too – it has heaped pressure on the foreman to claw back time and money.

With time marching forward once more, the terrifying incident is approaching again. Knowing the horror that is about to unfold, your own tension grows. But this time you can change the outcome, you can intervene. What will you do?

Welcome to the latest method conjured up to promote behavioural safety and personal responsibility: Terminal, an interactive play based on a real incident. Devised by AKT Productions for BAA Capital Projects, it tells the story of an accident in which a girder falls through a restaurant roof and seriously injures members of the public.

Beginning with the aftermath and then rewinding through time to piece together the different factors – such as attitudes, behaviour, choices – the reasons for the accident and the prevailing workplace culture are gradually revealed. Along the way, at key points, Terminal’s action is stopped by a ‘facilitator’ – a kind of mc – so the audience can discuss issues such as responsibility and rule breaking. Then the lights go out again, a dramatic bass beat kicks in, and the play continues.

The whole affair is pretty intense – the acting and characterisation are convincing – but it’s also witty, thoughtful and well observed. Tense stand-offs between management and site, jokey tea break chitchat – all register with the audience. Taken as a standalone play, it’s very entertaining. Coupled with the interactive sessions, as far as health and safety workshops go, it’s unlike any you’ll have attended before. ‘Absolutely brilliant,’ was the response from Dee Patton, safety adviser at Wilson James. ‘To capture an audience and hold its attention for two hours was impressive.’

Terminal’s origins can be traced to the oil and gas industry. It was a similar production for Shell which first caught BAA’s attention when a contractor for both firms – AMEC – alerted the airport operator to Mousetrap, a dramatic exploration of an offshore fatality. When Mark Westwood, BAA’s safety programme manager, saw it he realised the construction industry could benefit from a similar approach.

Together with AKT, BAA set about dramatising a real incident from the company’s past – the falling girder – to create a day-long workshop which targeted BAA’s own management and first tier supply chain partners. After a six-month development process, during which AKT’s writer and actors were given full access to BAA’s staff, Terminal was created.

Initially, BAA ran two workshops: one for senior management and one for site-based staff. But Westwood realised they were sending out the wrong message, especially as the play highlights the divisions that construction projects can foster. ‘We decided to mix up the audience so that both groups attended the same workshops. So we had labourers and directors sitting at the same table together.’ And by seating supervisors with their own staff, rather than mixing up the company workforces, it allows everyone to see how their colleagues think. ‘In many cases I know it was the first time such teams had sat down together,’ adds Westwood, who dismisses suggestions that some workers might find attending a ‘drama’ workshop, well, a bit la-di-da. ‘It’s a non-threatening environment, dress is casual and it’s a day-long event. Most of the guys get into it – the between-action banter can get pretty lively!’

Sue Briggs is Terminal’s – and AKT’s – facilitator. An experienced actor, she holds the floor when action is halted, and referees the ensuing discussion. In Briggs’ experience, the power of drama as a learning tool is first realised when an audience member says ‘that’s the way it is at my work’, perhaps referring to the aggressive but under-pressure foreman or the unempowered operatives. ‘When someone’s that honest... the minute you get that recognition, you’re on the first step of the ladder to change,’ says Briggs.

A lot of that recognition is down to the quality of writing and acting. ‘This isn’t panto, they’re not cardboard characters, they’re all prey to human frailties,’ states Briggs. Indeed, Phil James of EC Harris was convinced the actors were genuine site workers: ‘Most managers would instantly relate Terminal to their own experience – they’ll recognise the operatives and say, “I’ve got a couple of guys like that”. The great acting definitely helped focus the issues.’

According to AKT’s founding director, Tim Bannerman, the immersive nature of theatre opens up the learning process. ‘If you directly engage people in a story and suspend their disbelief by involving them so that they genuinely feel a part of that story, they learn like sponges.’ For Briggs, it’s about drama as a form of hypnosis. ‘In one scenario we ask the audience to coach a character on stage in how to deal with a certain problem. What’s actually happening though, is that the audience members, because they identify with the character, are coaching themselves.’

Bannerman adds: ‘There’s another aspect. Books, films, plays are all immersive. But because we take our material from the very people who are sitting down watching our play, we hit them with a double whammy.’

Health and safety is not the only topic which interactive theatre can explore. AKT has worked with Wates on diversity issues, while both EC Harris and BAA suggest leadership scenarios might be areas they’d look at. Briggs says: ‘We developed a variety of scenarios with Wates that look at many issues aimed at senior management. Gender, bullying, intervention. We ran a series of workshops for them and took them around the country.’

AKT uses a different approach when tackling diversity. It’s more likely to create a metaphorical scenario extrapolated from its research, rather than take the literal approach that health and safety issues demand. ‘With diversity, issues are more sensitive – it can be very personal – so we like to provide a little distance from the reality of the situation we’re exploring.’

When CM saw Terminal and we reached the point when the accident was, nightmarishly, about to occur again, the action was stopped and the audience called upon to intervene. It was a highly charged moment: the audience was eager to quiz the operatives as to why they were going against their own safety instincts. ‘Didn’t you have safety concerns regarding this task just yesterday,’ pleaded one. ‘What if your kids were in the restaurant?’ asked another.

The foreman and manager, unhappy at this turn of events then waded in to warn the audience against interfering. Throughout, the actors stay in character, improvising dialogue to deal with spontaneous questions. The intervention succeeded. One of the operatives walked off the job despite threats over employment from the foreman. ‘In that case, I’ll see you in court!’ is his parting shot, a retort met with loud cheers and applause from the audience. The accident avoided, the collective sense of relief is palpable.

It was clear to those who attended that this was a learning exercise with a difference. Debate was easy to generate because it was kick-started by on-stage performances – and marshalled by the facilitator – and if the audience was representative of a company’s hierarchy, the impact of the discussions would undoubtedly resonate.

Westwood broadly confirms as much by saying Terminal has been a great success for BAA. Performed at both Heathrow and Glasgow airports to its staff and partners, Westwood, convinced of the power of drama, is confident of the impression it has made. ‘Of course it would be great if we could show it to everyone but I suppose it’s planting seeds. If 10% see it, they can help influence change.’